414 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



to the great crisis in which v.e are involved and the great business we are 

 carrying on. Therefore, I would suggest that it is a duty that we owe 

 not only to ourselves but to the nation, that we should insist upon the 

 greatest vigilance in the movement of freight commodities, and particu- 

 larly of live stock; and that can be done by enforcing the claims, so far 

 as we are able to do so. Once a shipment is damaged and there is an 

 amount lost, that is gone forever; but we have to consider the effect upon 

 future shipments; and if the railroads feel that the live stock men as a 

 body are after these things and are going to assert their rights, they are 

 going to be a little more vigilant, I think, and use their utmost powers in 

 moving the freight, to conserve themselves from any further financial loss. 

 There is absolutely no advantage to the railroad in a loss of this kind, 

 whether they have to pay for it or not. 



I think it is always of value to know something of the principles that 

 underlie the rights that we have in connection with the movement of 

 freight. You know we have spoken a good deal of the common law 

 liability of the carrier. That is a matter of history, and goes back to 

 the days of the stage coach. You remember the character in "Lorna 

 Doone," who says that he thought they went faster than the Lord Al- 

 mighty ever intended men should go. That day has gone by; the only 

 question with us now is whether they go half as fast as the Lord Al- 

 mighty and vre wish they would go. You are aware that the days of 

 the stage coach were not so safe on the road, and we have still a few 

 highwaymen left. The consequence was that the driver of the stage 

 coach and the owner of the concern were held to a greater liability in 

 the handling of goods than was required of any other man. For instance, 

 if a piece of property was left with a man to take care of, he was simply 

 a bailee, and held to a reasonable degree of care — such a degree of care 

 as the ordinary man would use in caring for his own property. But the 

 stage coach driver who was moving the stuff from one place to another 

 was held to a greater degree of care, because very ofteu they found there 

 was collusion between the stage coach driver and the highwayman; there- 

 fore, they held that man to absolute liability as an insurer of the prop- 

 erty, so that if it was stolen he couldn't set it up as a defense to his own 

 liability. 



The common law with reference to the carrier's liability has been 

 developed. The days of the stage coach did not anticipate the days of 

 the railroad, and I suppose the early days of the railroads hardly antici- 

 pated some of the forms of carriage that we will have very shortly. 

 There were certain exceptions to that liability — the act of God, for instance; 

 a storm, snow — anything that a carrier could not anticipate. If the goods 

 were liable to quick fermentation or decay, the carrier was never held 

 liable under the common law. Then there was the question as to whether 

 the shipper himself was responsible. If there was any deliberate negli-- 

 gence on the part of the shipper, the carrier could not be held negligent. 

 After a while the carrier got sense enough to find that he could contract 

 with the shipper to avoid liability; and I suppose the contracts were a 

 matter of bargain at one time, until finally the railroads got their 

 attorneys to work and had their contracts printed, so that all you had to 

 do was to sign your contract and you were bound up tight. 



